Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

"A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings."

"Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape. These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling. And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light. And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom."

"And one of the elders of the city , said , speak to us of good and evil. And he answered :You are good in countless ways , and you are not evil when you are not good ."

"You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps. Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping. For those who limp go not backwards. But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness."

"But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also."

"In the summer heat the reapers say, “We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."

"Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?"

"You often say ; I would give , but only to the deserving, The trees in your orchard say not so , nor the flocks in your pasture. Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and nights is worthy of all else from you. And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver , and an instrument of giving. For in truth it is life that gives unto life-while you , who deem yourself a giver , is but a witness."

"It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving."

"You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.”The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish."

"Shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean."

"But you, children of space, you restless in rest, you shall not be trapped nor tamed."

"What is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?"

"Let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the wind of the heavens dance between you."

"Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil. For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters."

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy."

"Then said a teacher , speak to us of teaching . And he said :The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple among his followers gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. The astronomer may spaeak to you of his understanding of space , but he cannot give you his understanding. The musician may sing to you of the rythem which is in all space , but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rythem nor the voice that echoes it . And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure , but he cannot conduct you thither . For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man ."

"And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair"

"You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable. You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons. Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing. Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream. And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space. Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?And is not time even as love is, undivided and spaceless?But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing."

"There are those among you who seek the talkative through fear of being alone. The silence of aloneness reveals to their eyes their naked selves and they would escape. And there are those who talk, and without knowledge or forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not understand. And there are those who have the truth within them, but they tell it not in words. In the bosom of such as these the spirit dwells in rhythmic silence."